I should be content. In all reality this has probably been my best year so far. From shifting focus from the steep Cornice (WCJ) to the less steep Cornice (Cheedale) I've been able to get on routes that I thought, technically would have had me over a barrel. Kneebars, heel toe's, thigh scums, extended draws, skipped bolts, the list of 'cheating' (laughable really) tactics I've employed this summer is huge.

Consequently I've managed to drag my not so steely, not so well trained self up some of the Peaks finest routes due to minor bouts of persistence. On completing each route I went home smiling, with my "enough now, its time work" head on. Then on returning to the crag to allow Nat to tidy up a loose end or two (she's continued ticking ) the quick play on routes have developed into that redpointing yearning feeling that sidetracks me from everythig I ought to be doing and leaves me refining beta in my sleep. Currently that'd be Devonshire Arms. Two sessions ago I refined the upper crux with what can only be described as footwork removing the need to use the overly high glued edge or opt for the Beastmaker attitude of doing a Fnt 8b instead.

I've refined the crux and now all that remains is to string it all together (this time without getting the rope over my shoulder). I'm on the edge of my seat on this one as the forecast looks as if it'll rob me of victory before I have the chance to fail.

...and then of course there's Four Door.

Seven

On our little euro-tour, Nat hit her goal of climbing F7a in Rodellar. TBH I think it was the first she actually tried and it went without any redpointing to speak of. First go was on a toprope at which she failed about 5cm from the belay. Second go, well it was done.

Later on in the tour with light fading above L'ermitage in Margalerf I lowered off the last route of the day (F7a+) only for Nat to demand that she wanted a go. I sighed deeply thinking that I'd be doing the route in question 30 mins later but this time with the added fun of being the dark. I was wrong; she promptly flashed it.

But then again, holiday ticks feel just like that (with the exception of 'Old Skool' venues such as Buoux or the 'jura where ticks really ARE ticks) and she was vocal about ticking some F7a routes in the UK.

I've been trying to make the point that really it was well within reach on our return and certainly last season however I was largely ignored up until around a fortnight ago (lingering memories from Kilnsey were getting in the way I feel). Nat conceded the point and finally pulled onto Clarion Call. With her tendency to crimp anything small it seemed like the perfect route and at the end of the first session all of the moves were in the bag (and much skin was lost). Second session a few false starts made way for the inevitable tick and much happiness (despite much use of tape), possibly due to the curry and beer that followed.

Since then I was sucked into WCJ Cornice and obviously knowing I was about to spend a fair amount of time there she jumped onto 'Incapacity benefit' (F7a+), this took a bit longer down to poor (or inexperienced) redpoint tactics but its done and didn't take long (certainly less time than me).

Tonights route 'Quality Control' was another victim of poor tactics, we were there on Sunday and it was hotter than the sun (really I should complain more when the plan is suggested rather than sulking whislt there!. Unsurprisingly tonight (which was... overcast), a quick bolt to bolt was followed by yet another successful tick (I'm glad too as Two Tier is far from ideal for an after work destination).

A discussion sat at the bottom of WCJ (after she'd had a quick bolt-to-bolt of Brachiation Dance [a little too powerful in places but still a taste of whats to come]) we mused how she'd joined me at the various Cornices years before and hadn't ever thought that ticking a route on either, let alone both would be a reality. From my point of view this is brilliant news, UK sport climbing (of quality) starts at F7a and weekend trips to Yorkshire (mainly Malham as I've done very little there) are now completely feasible. On the trip it wasn't 'too' much of an issue as Euro crags generally offer a good spread of quality throughout the grades, even places like the 'jura allow you to visit a number of outcrops in a day and fill your veritable boots. Britain does not and sub-seven climbers are relegated to the wings, often near the 'toilet' area.

Trad, bouldering and easier multi-pitch climbing allow us to climb together quite a lot already, throw in Sport, the best of the lot and I'm psyched. I have to say that I'm almost regretting our choice of holiday this year; 3 weeks in the Verdon late Sept/Early Oct as it requires a completely different skillset to that of which we are both currently implementing. Onsighting consistently at a grade for 350m with an airy feel is very different to yarding on undercuts in roofs, even if you are skipping a couple of clips. Gulp.

Most Muscular

The last few weekends were sadly lost to 'family commitments', those things that really shouldn't be too much hassle but giving up a good weekend (or worse two!) of climbing doesn't quite seem on. Typically I sulked through both, hopefully not being too dire company for our respective parents. To console myself I decided to make life hard and spend a few of the days in between out and about, camera in hand. Whilst this seemed like a good idea at the time, the backlog of work is now evident and all I'm doing is dragging out this darn thesis and the onslaught of a regular, time consuming job (where I might add, they'll likely want me to be both respectable and timely of which I'm neither).

Over the river (also known as 'Chee Tor') I have a few things left on simmer; Queer St., Ceramic and mainly Mortlock's Arete, all of which I wish to address before the lure of bolts becomes too much to resist (if it hasn't already). A few trips over to Wales won't hurt (or might) either.

However, I'm finding it hard to resist the appeal of sport these last few weeks. An evening session at the Cornice proved just how much more I can get done in a short period of time compared to trad, climbing 5 routes in an evening (leave Sheffield circa 6pm) just isn't feasible when you have to talk to yourself every move or curse yourself for still not getting the gear right 20 minutes on, calves on fire and kahunas shrinking rapidly. Having said that (or spilled it onto a virtual page) this Trad malarkey hasn't left me in a too shabby state (surprisingly). I'm fit, probably something to do with doing what some might classify as Aerocap unknowingly as I cower beneath what is likely a trivial move above but nonetheless a change of trousers is almost a guaranteed requisite.

After climbing again with Dy(log)an, Lu(log) and the one and only log of Dob, bolts are appealing no end. Last Tues, two of the logs picked me up en-route (actually on a nightmare Sheffield-center morning-traffic detour) to the Tor, somewhere I must admit I haven't done 'that' much at. There are certainly some notable exceptions in my Peak sport climbing education, for which really there's no excuse. At the crag, we met up with Shark; overlord numero uno. Shark was the first person in Sheffield to take me to the Peak (maybe we can blame him for my downward spiral into plywood obsession, likely not).

He offered a (rather swift) lift to the Cornice (Cheedale) and unknowingly I set off to open my Peak-lime education with a bang. I can't remember what time of year it was but it was far from the Predator-esque humid sweat fest of the weekend past, it was freezing. As per the norm 'Clarion Call' was the wake up/warm up and I remember struggling like mad. Fresh from two summers worth of Kilnsey fun this all felt like hard work and warm I was not. Later on that session I attempted Powerplant, that went less well. As the guidebook points out you can sit on the first bolt until a local your size turns up to hand out the necessary beta. He didn't come. I lowered off. It had begun...

Above and below you can see Shark cruising to victory on Crucifixion an ascent that has firmly placed it high upon my to-do pile.

As the weekend approached my monitoring of rain radar, Norwegian interpretations of smoke signs and anything other than Metcheck left me with the clear feeling that (typically) the weekend would be a write off. Poetically at that moment (Fri) my phone rang. Maybe it was more poetic that at the same time an irate supervisor appeared at my desk and promptly left (...I was on the phone). WCJ cornice wasn't my first choice of destination, after all Trad isn't known for making you strong or tackling rock of that persuasion. Its also the case that WCJ has my biggest nemesis to date. Monsterosity. I've fallen off this more times than I care to mention and hadn't been on it for at least 2 years, having given up, despite being overly strong, my power endurance was woeful and this route wasn't going to succumb to wheel spin. Friday night then came as a bit of a shock (no this isn't a Dobbin wet dream, no there's no success here either). Everyone else warmed up on the 7a, which lost yet more holds (I'm stunned to see it has any left). I was handed the job of sticking the QD's in Brachiation (a route which is starting to show its popularity with a shiny brass like finish). There's no denying it, it felt hard. The lower slab had lost the final hold in my sequence leaving me eyeing up the second bolt, wishing I could crimp with my teeth. I cannot. As the roof steepened my arms felt like jelly (why is this the warm up, you'd be better going for a swim). Back on the floor, I waited for my lead-like forearms to dispense at least enough lactic acid to allow me to untie and slink off. Climbing in a three can sometimes be tricky, pumped out of your mind the extra rest is all together welcome.
Some time later I was once again offered a belay and looking up at the in-situ draws I couldn't see any way of avoiding it. Unlike usual, there were no expectations other than it feeling harder than I remembered and almost certain failure. However, despite that I tied in and set off. I didn't fluff the start, nor was I pumped at the flake. I crimped, I slapped and I screamed clawing every extra inch I could. It didn't end in glory but I rarely climb like that, truly 'A muerte'. I put a lot into that go (it clearly showed next RP) and with it came the realisation that I CAN do it. Some of my sequence is in-efficient from my overly strong days but I can rectify this (I already have some pear of wisdom) and a few sacrificial bolt-to-bolts will pay dividends I'm sure. It'd certainly be good to have a reason for busting out a most muscular at the crag a la Rotpunkt Shark:

I just hope the weather plays ball... bollocks.

A few visits to High Tor since the last post (a couple with, one without boots/chalk/harness and even a dynamic rope!) have finished off my aspirations. Thats not to say I've exhausted the crag, nor finished off everything I'd 'like' to do. However the remaining ticks of interest require a few things I don't have (as well as the obvious). During the warm spell we were literally baked alive seeking the easiest way up the crag and back into the shade. The visit wasn't a complete waste mind you as someone lost a few brand new wires and didn't bother to try and retrieve them.



So, for the first time this season I was left with a bit of a dilemna; where to go? With the rise in temperatures Staden seemed the obvious choice (until I was informed of the current access restriction). So where next? Beeston looked intriguing but Pear-wielding-goose-meister-joy reminded me I might as well apply oil, wrap myself in tin foil and pop up to Malham instead. In the end we settled for a late start at Chee Tor (after an exploratory walk the night of forgetting the rope).



The whole evening was interesting, from seeing a Mojo piloted Type R trying to overtake (not noticing the three letters after Fabia) and the ensuing 'drive' that followed. To the walk-in through the newly opened tunnels (much quicker but far more deadly what with all of the idiots on bikes, take your clipstick a.k.a. Spokestick with you on this one!). Far too much chat at the cornice and a quick wade across the river and we were at the base of what looks like a fairly vegetated, distinctly average piece of limestone. Boy oh boy it'd be wrong to judge this book by its cover. What followed were some of the highest quality low-mid grade routes I've ever done on some frankly stunning rock. It was pointed out to me that bolted this crag would offer some mediocre 6's, but the abundance of perfect wire slots, threads and other pro elevate it to a fantastic crag. As per the general game plan, I've started from the bottom and I'm aiming for the middle ground. Most of the lower graded routes are suprisingly clean and the loweroffs thus far have been fairly good however some of the harder lines look (not unsurprisngly) like they attract less traffic.



It finally began to rain on Sunday evening and I retired to the cornice to fully finish off the arms upon the routes I spent a while getting fit last year. Thankfully this went fairly well, hours and hours moving slowly (no, much slower) on trad has lifted my fitness levels greatly but I've got a nagging suspicion that my strength and maybe even power endurance will be at an all time low. I wonder how much longevity there is in the current trad plan? Its hard to look beyond the current state of affairs and see that this isn't in fact a regression but progression, making up for the mis-alignment of strength and technique over the years. Summer crags within the range of a standard evening session aren't that numerous (recommendations are VERY welcome here) and on Sunday I found myself looking longingly at Cornice routes which I well know are currently way out of range.



It was interesting to see that on both Wed and Sat there were roughly double the number of climbers at Chee Tor than the Cornice (which is drier and heading towards being cleaner than last year). Is it the opening of the tunnels? It seems to me that climbing in general is ever increasing in popularity but since the fantastic rebolting efforts of Kristian, Jon Clark and others the Peak crags are looking darn good.

The love affair with High Tor continues although the honeymoon period will soon pass as the majority of challenges that remain are outside my comfort zone and if truth be told, my skill set. There's a handful of routes I'd like to finish off, and a couple of the fully bolted offerings should offer some respite to my perma-pumped calf muscles. However, I have to say I've been disappointed by a few of the last routes ticked. Many have big reputations and are firmly set in history yet I've found the climbing of average interest with seemingly less quality available than at the humble level of E2/3 and surprisingly, in parts, a greater degree of polish!

Yet, I shouldn't complain too much. I'm happy to be progressing at a steady pace (one much more rapid than I could reasonably expect from any other discipline), even if in reality my target might have been viewed by some as a reasonable starting point.

In between the showers we salvaged another day by climbing on the newly (ish) bolted right wing. Some of it is in typical style; bolted when realistically it should have been left to fall down, yet between these routes are a few hidden gems. A fingery 7a, an E5 with the worst lower off I've seen (tiny tree, loose block in front, sling around both), and another 7a prow. These are worth bearing in mind for an easy day or for somewhere likely to be shielded from showers elsewhere in the Peak. It should be noted that there appear to be nesting birds on a number of routes, anything with a large crack to be precise. Rock quality is generally poor surrounding the 1st bolts, beyond this things firm up.

It seems the summer is fast approaching and I'm looking forward to venturing further afield on my ticklist (Matlock Bath only retains interest for a short period). First up will undoubtedly be Gogarth where T-Rex and Flytrap eagerly await my flounderings (cam sizes for the first much appreciated?). Beyond that the Axe must feature highly; searching Google for photos last night I came across a few stunning pictures (one graces the cover of Ground Ups North Wales Select) which left be both nervous and inspired.

I made a rash decision with camera's this week but I'll make sure to get some worthy shots before revealing too much.

Klanks

...or 'Calanques' [if you choose to pronounce (and spell) it correctly] is located twixt Marseille and Cassis on the fantastically warm Cote D'Azur. This holiday was picked tactically; firstly we hadn't left the country in all too long, secondly, 'Calanques' is one of the few areas whilst we were living in a van that people kept referring to, which we hadn't really heard anything else before (Ablon being another) and finally, we have (had) big aims for later on in the year (Yosemite).

Before venturing off, we finally purchased a decent compact for our newly found multi-pitch fetish. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is quite frankly the nuts, buy an S95 if you don't fancy a hot shoe, if you do look no further (quite pleased with how that came out, given it involved scotch-tape and a piece of A4 paper):

Now, there are two main facets to Calanques. Medium sized multi-pitch pseudo sport climbs (mixed bolts and gear) and steep burly jug hauling roofs (the third facet is car crime). Sadly the middle of the three all face south and we only made that mistake one day!

I presume Calanques means inlet or something similar, there are a number of them (7?) around Marseille and most offer climbing of sorts. The main area, Calanques d'En Vau (pictured above) is reached after a 40min or so downhill (N.B. this means uphill on the return!) stroll. There are climbs on both side with mainly easy pinnacles on the LHS and more involved (but not too taxing) routes on the RHS, or the 'Grand Face du Rappel'. This stays in shade from mid-morning. Arriving on a bank-holiday weekend wasn't ideal, the car park was rammed and our initial peace at being on holiday was smashed about 5 minutes after parking up. Having forgotten something in the car (did I lock it syndrome?), I returned to find two fishy looking Frenchmen, in leather gloves fiddling with the car next to ours. They look surprised, walked off briskly and then loitered until it became evident I wasn't leaving my oil-burner until they'd f*cked off. They did.

One of the main aims of the trip was to become more efficient. Last year (or was it the one before) when Nat and I embarked down into the Verdon it was very much like I was leading, taking the responsibility that came with it, and she'd follow diligently. It worked, but fast it was not. With her confidence growing (and performance climbing steadily too, although stern British grades sometimes seem to leave her doubting this), this was the place to get going properly, equal share of the load.

Over the coming week (due to lack of scope caused by 25' heat) we pretty much ticked the place. It seems to me that the French haven't yet removed their blinkers when it comes to Calanques. Most 'big' routes follow obvious lines of weakness and there's barely anything that warrants a 7. Given the immense amount of rock I just can't understand this. Its like two High Tor's stacked on top and about 15 times as long and that's just one one side! The other side of the Calanques has only just started being devloped. If you are so inclined, pack a Hilti and jump to it.

Furthermore, whilst I'm at it (and I might as well get this off my chest), I found the Rockfax guide to be a particular low point. They've made the assumption that taking a rack is a personal choice and what might be acceptable for one, mightn't for another, this said they then throw the 'small rack' symbol at anything. I found this to cover A0 style bolt-ladders to pretty much totally trad pitches. The same can be said for the loose rock symbol which seems to have been omitted from some particularly loose pitches. The guide descriptions are particularly lacking too; "the more direct and harder finish", fantastic, now which line of holds/bolts does it follow? I urge you to buy the local topo instead.

The fixed gear is another funny situation. Not quite as odd as the likes of Peak-limestone-trad, yet funny nonetheless. Some routes are fully equipped, others are barely equipped and it almost feels as if they're trying to cultivate a trad-feel rather than letting the rock (and natural placements) dictate the feel of the climb. This seems slightly insane given most routes follow obvious cracks and could easily be protected in an alternate manner.

Descent from the Grand face is made via either abbing down the line (N.B. the state of many of the fixed ab points shown in the guide is poor), or making a short walk, a single ab (where the French chose to ab off a single bolt (no maillon, no ring etc.) instead of a giant 1.5m diameter tree.

The weather was kind over the 11 days or so we were away. 20-25' heat during the day and little in the way of rain. We did however receive tow soakings, both minutes after topping out which led to a lot of wet gear and a pretty memorable walk home in the dark, lightening all around. Leaving the sanctity of the valley to get to the car was 'interesting'.

Before leaving for France, Nat and I both began reminiscing about the Gorges du Verdon. For me, it was the best place I visited on my entire trip; its everything I'm not. Big, bold and technical. Just getting over the exposure seemed like a decent tick, even if I didn't do anything all that hard (for anyone thinking of something hard, Graphique will be the airiest 8a I've ever tried, its not easy either). Due to this thinking, throughout the trip we kept a close eye on the forecast for 'la Palud' (thanks to UKB for the info re: drying). It didn't look good, everyday it rained a LOT and I was sure the cumulative effect would leave the gorge, especially the target (La Demande, the first route to breach L'Escales [i.e. bottom to top up the big bit], following a crack and then legendary exit chimneys). i.e. read drainage.

Saturday looked good, and despite needing to drive for ~10 hours the next day in time for a ferry at 6pm seemed like a great plan. Friday evening we drove to the verdon (2 hours extra), enjoyed the best pizza in the world, a beer or so and then slept a rather uncomfortable night in the car (bad bad plan).

Neither of us slept. My excuse is basically over excitement. Nat just found it bloody uncomfortable. When dawn broke we romped through the wet tunnels to find ourselves at the foot of L'escales just after 7 (giving us roughly 12 hours should we be 'that' slow). Sadly the shortcomings of our plan showed through immediately. Nat looked terrible on the first pitch and quickly became unhappy and returned to Terra-firma. Frustrated I romped up, linking what we think were the first two pitches to save some time. Nat followed looking timid and tired and when she finally reached the belay it was obvious that continuing on, although possible would lead to some fairly frustrating climbing. I suggested we call it quits and return fully fit. She wasn't happy as expected.

At about midday it became apparent just how stupid our plan was, driving in the general direction of North, neither of us could concentrate and we were forced to stop and sleep. Idiotic.

Hopefully this isn't all sounding too negative (the holiday was fantastic)?

Financially it looks like the original Yosemite plan is a little self-indulgent at this time, and given the disparity between climbing as a team, we both think it could heavily benefit from some consolidation. On the plus side, the Verdon is much closer, much cheaper and I have the sneaking suspicion that, should we venture away from cracks onto the more fingery, technical walls (Pichenbule), Nat will excel as she did yesterday upon High Tor. Rat fingers.

E5?

It seems I've been fairly busy since the last post. The 3 year funding period on my studies has now ceased and I saw last Fri as my absolute stopping point for simulation work. I managed to hit that deadline early, by about a day.

Not so long ago, both Nat and I took out Foundry memberships (3 months). The weather hadn't been so great and we were both rushing all over the place and it seemed to make sense. Now it doesn't. I simply can't believe how much time I've managed to accumulate on Grit over the past few weeks, so much so I can barely remember the last time I pulled on plastic (I'm no doubt kitten weak).

I've also managed to accumulate a satisfying amount of stars from routes that really deserved some attention in the logical order of things rather than now. However, as I was reminded on Saturday night "better late than never..."

Its here that I'd like to post my current long term aim; I'd love to be solid at E5. Not able to get up one or two but solid. Like Reeve but without the fluffy hair. Irrespective of style, rock type or angle. This popped up into discussion twice on Saturday night, once with a boulderer and once with someone I'd class as a pretty outstanding all-rounder. The conflicting opinions on the difficulty of this aim made me smile. Trad is easy, right?

Currently this aim fits in nicely with life and play. It allows Nat and I to climb together a lot of the time and really, it doesn't require much in the way of training. Simply a will to get out and try. Consolidation seems to be the name of the game and I'm just about getting into territory where life becomes quite interesting, esepcially on Grit (is it just me or is the floor always a little too close for comfort?).

This brings me to my next point:

At the back end of last week I found myself at Black Rocks, camera in hand for this:

The forecast said it was to be "the hottest day of 2011 so far" which somehow didn't seem to affect the Solution wearing Italian cruising up Gaia. It did however effect me. Driving back through the Peak district I was suddenly very concious of how much I like Sheffield and the surrounding area. Ok, so Matlock Bath shouldn't set anyone's world alight but looking up at the evening sunshine on High Tor followed by a quick nip through Chatsworth and many Fawn crossing the road, to the last of the evening light hitting the grit edges neighbouring the city; all left me with the strong desire to remain living in Sheffield. Something that both Nat and I have discussed recently with a view of moving to Leeds.

Thankfully she feels the same.